Golden sword and fierce hero

Author: Hu Ren
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Liu Bang unified the world, but how large was his realm? It was merely south of the Great Wall. So, who ruled the land north of the Great Wall? He—Mou Dun (pronounced not as "Mo"), the first unifier of the grasslands in Chinese history. His realm extended east to the Liao River, west to Lake Balkhash, south to the Great Wall, and north to Lake Baikal, covering an area larger than the Han Dynasty. To train an army that obeyed him, he invented a whistling arrow and decreed that anyone who did not stand up where the arrow landed would be executed. His first shot killed a deer, the second killed his own horse, the third killed his beloved wife, the fourth killed the king's horse, and the fifth aimed directly at his own father. When enemy states demanded his fine horses, he gave them freely; when they asked for his women, he readily agreed; but when they demanded land, he flew into a rage. To protect his ministers, he would take risks; to seize the throne, he killed his own father; to recruit talented scholars, he knelt three times; to save his daughter, he risked his life. Missing a woman, he was heartbroken; concerned about his women, he was shot through with arrows. Enduring humiliation, others could urinate on him; bearing heavy burdens, he could let others ride him as a horse. For her, he mobilized the entire nation's army; for her, he released the Han Dynasty's emperor; for her, he struck his own daughter three times. Was he a lecher, or a man of virtue? Was he a wise and just ruler, or a cruel and tyrannical one?